Railway-tie.



PATBNTED JULY 2 4,- 1906.v

No.l 826,905.I

H, G. sTAAB. RAILWAY TIB.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 5.1905.

reference beinor NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE- Specification of LettersPatent.

Patented July 24, 1906.

Application led August 5, 1905. Serial No. 272,823

To a/ZZ whom it may concern,.-

Be-it known that I, HERMAN G. STAAB, residing in Milwaukee, in thecounty of Milwaukee and State of lVisconsin, have invented new anduseful Improvements in Railway- Ties, of which the-following is adescription, had to the accompanying drawings, whidh are a part of thisspecification.

My invention has relation to ments in railway-ties.

The primary object of the invention is to provide a construction whereinthe ties may be laid uniformly straight throughout,l but yet will beadapted not only for rails running in astraight line, but also for railsrunningat various angles or in various directions.

With the4 above primary object and other incidental objects in view theinvention consists ofthe devices and parts or the equivalents-thereof,as hereinafter more fully set forth.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a plan view of a fragment ofone of my improved railWay-ties, showing a fragment 0f a rail extendingthereacross andsecured there to. Fig. 2 is a view looking at one of thelongitudinal edges of the tie, the rail being in transverse section, apart of the tie broken away; and Fig. 3 is a transverse section on theline 3 3 of Fig. l.

Referring to the drawings, the numeral 4 indicates my improvedtie, whichconsists, preferably, of a hollow casting having closed sides and openends andof any desired metal, preferably malleable iron.

The top surface of the tie is provided thereover with a series of lips5, which ordinarily or before the tie is put into service lie on ahorizontal plane with said top surface of the tie. Some of these lipshave their free ends pointing towardone end of the tie, and other ofsaid lips have their free ends pointing toward the opposite end of thetie. These lips are preferably formed by making in the castingV U-shapedcuts 6, theI metal remaining after the cuts are formed,constituting thelipsr. There is sufficient space left, however, between the edges of thelips and the bordering edges of the cuts to provide a clearance for theinsertion of a tool which may be employed for conveniently turning thelips upwardly to engage over the base of the rail, as hereinafter fullyreferred to.

In order to provide for the tie being securely held in the railway-bed,I construct improvethe bottom and longitudinal side edges-there of'withribs between which the sand and dirt may pack, and thereby preventaccidental displacement of the tie,

The ribs on thebottom are indicatedby the numeral 7 and extend acrossthe width of the tie in preferably an approximate V- shaped form, thespaces S between the ribs being advisably of a concaveform.` The apicesof some of these V-shaped ribs preferably point outwardly toward one endof the tie, while the apices ofother of saidribs pointtoward theopposite end of the tie. The ribs of the longitudinal side edges-areindicated by the numeral 9, and the spaces between said ribs by thenumeral 10. These side ribs extend in straight lines from the-t0p to thebottom of the tie, and thespaces therebetween are also preferably ofconcave for-m. From this construction it will beseen that when the tieis sunkinto the 'railroad-bed op portunityis afforded for having thesand and dirt pack tightly in the'spaees between the ribs in thebottomand sidesof thetie, and hence said tie isthereby quite securelyanchored against displacement.

At opposite ends of the tie and extending from the top edge are tongues11, which when the tie is .in use are bent downwardly in order topartially cover the open ends of the tie, and thereby prevent stones orother heavy substances from entering the hollow interior space of thetie.

The bottom of the tie is provided withia series of openings 12, whichpermit water that may enter the interior of the tie to drain out. Inythe drawings a fragment of onel rail 13 is straight transverse line.Whena rail is so laid, it is secured-in place by bendingthelips 5 whichare nearest to the base ofthe rail around the edges and onto the top ofsaid rail-base.

It will be evident from the construction and disposition of the li s 5that. the tiemay be laid uniformly straight throughout land that a railor any number of rails may not only be laid across the tie transverselyin a straight line, but may be laid acrosssaid tie at a variety ofdifferent angles and in avariety of different directions, and whensoflaid there will always be some of the lips 5 adjacent to the base ofthe-rail inposition to be bent over said rail-base, and thereby hold therail in place. By my im roved conf struction, therefore, the tie wianswer for shown as extending across the tie in. a Y

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all pur oses, so that the necessity of providing di `erent kinds of tiesfor rails running in different directions or at different angles isavoided.

A further advantage of my improved con struction is that it does awayentirely with the necessity of the separate bolts ordinarily employed tohold the base of the rail to the ties, inasmuch as the integral lips ofmy 1nvention perform the function oi said bolts.

While I have herein shown and described a hollow tie with the closedsides and o en ends, yet I do not wish to be understoo as restrictingmyself specifically thereto, inasmuch as a solid plate cast or otherwisemade and vprovided with the lips, some pointing toward one end of thetie and others pointingtoward the opposite end of said tie and adaptedto be bent over and into engagement with the base of a rail, I wouldconsider within the spirit and scope of my invention.

As is well known, in many railroads Where the block system is employedthe rails are used as conductors for the electric current, wireconductors being usually employed at the rail-joint and extending fromone raisection to the other in order to prevent any interruption of theelectric current. Where my improved tie is employed in connection withsystems of the character referred to, it is necessary to insulate therail from the tie, as otherwise the current would pass from the railonto the metallic tie. I therefore in the accompanyin drawings show aninsulating` devicein the 'orm of a chair for the rail-base andconsisting of two half-sections 14 14', of any suitable insulatingmaterial, preferably paper ber. The bottoms of these sections extendbeneath the rail-base and are rovi'ded at their inner edges withinterloc ring The side .edges of these sections are iianged upwardly, asindicated by the 1 numerals 16 16, and bent over the top of therail-base, the downturned ends of the lips 5 being bent thereover, andthereby serving to hold the insulating-sections in place.

l. What I claim as my invention is 1. A railway-tie comprising a platehaving on its top surface a series of lips, the free ends of some ofsaid li s pointin` toward one end of the plate and t e free en s ofother of said lips pointing toward the opposite end of the plate, andsaid li s being initially turned down, but ada te to be bent over sothat those lips which are nearest to the base of a rail, set acrossthetie at any angle, may be bent over said rail-base.

2. A railway-tie comprising a plate having on its top surface a seriesof integral lips, the free ends of some of said lips pointing toward oneend of the plate, and the free ends of other of said lips pointingtoward the opposite end of the plate, and said lips being initiallyturned down, but adapted to be bent over so that those lips which arenearest to the base of a rail, set across the tie at any angle, may bebent over said rail-base.

3. A railway-tie comprising a plate having a series of approximateU-shaped cuts in its top surface forming lips, said cuts being 'sodisposed that the free ends of some of said lips oint toward one end ofthe plate and the ee ends of other of said lips point toward theopposite end of the plate, and said lips being initially turned down butadapted to nearest to the base of a rail, set across the tie at anyangle, may be bent over said rail-base.

4. A railway-tie comprising a hollow plate having on its to a series oflips, the free ends of some of said ips pointing toward one end of theplate, and the free ends of other of said lips pointing toward theopposite end of the late, and said lips being initially turned own, butadapted to be bent over, so that those lips which are nearest to thebase of a rail, set across the tie at any angle, may be bent over saidrail-base.

5. A railway-tie comprising a hollow plate having closed sides and openends, said plate provided on its top with a seriesof lips, the free endsof some of said li s pointing toward one end of the plate, an the freeends of other of said lips pointing toward the opposite end of theplate, and said li s being initially turned down, but adapte to be bentover, so that those lips which are nearest to the base of a rail, setacross the tie at any angle, may be bent over said rail-base.

6. A railway-tie com rising a hollow plate having its top provide with aseries of substantially U-shaped cuts, forming lips, said cuts being sodisposed that the free ends of some of said lips point toward one end ofthe plate, and the free ends of other of said lips toward the oppositeend of the plate, and said lips being initially turned down, but adaptedto be bent over, so that those lips which are nearest to the base of arail, set across the tie at any angle, may be bent over said rail-base.

7. A railway-tie comprising a hollow plate having closed lsides and openends, with tongues projecting outwardly from one of the edges of eachopen end, said tongues adapted to be bent downwardly, and the top ofsaid hollow plate provided with a series of lips, the free ends of someof said li s pointing toward one end of the plate, an the free ends ofother of said lips pointing toward the opposite end of the plate, andsaid li s being initially turned down,lbut adapte to be bent over, sothat the lips which are nearest to the base of a rail, set across thetie at any angle, may be bent over said rail-base.

8. A railway-tie, comprising a plate having on its top surface a seriesof lips arranged over substantially the entire area of said surface, thelips which are nearest to the base of be bent over, so that those lipswhich are' IOO IIC

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a rail extending over the plate adapted to be bent over said rail-base.

9. A railway-tie comprising a plate with r means on its top surface forengaging the base of a railway-rail, and the bottom of said plateprovided with a series of ribs of approximate V shape, and forminggrooves therebetween, the apices of some of said ribs pointing towardone end of the tie, and the apices of the other of said lips pointingtoward the opposite end of the tie.

10. A railway-tie comprising a plate having on its top surface a seriesof lips arranged over substantially the entire area of said surfaceJsome of the lips pointing toward one end of the plate and other of saidlips pointing toward the opposite end of the plate, and the lips whichare nearest to the base of a rail extending over the plate adapted to bebent over said rail-base.

l1. A railway-tie comprising a plate having on its top surface aplurality of lines of lips arranged over substantially the entire areaof said surface, and each line of lips extending in the direction of thelength of the tie, the lips which are nearest to the base of a railextending over the plate adapted to be bent over said base-rail.

12. A railway-tie comprising a plate having on its top surface aplurality of lines of lips arranged over substantially the entire areaof said surface, and each line of lips extending in the direction of thelength of the tie, the lips in some of said lines pointingtoward one endof the plate and the lips in other of said lines pointing toward theopposite end of the late, and the lips which are nearest to the ase of arail extending over thei plate adapted to be bent over said baserai Intestimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

HERMAN G. STAAB. Witnesses:

J. M. HALL, R. C. JOHNSTON

